Being The Church!
Acts 1:1-11
I loved Miss Patrick. She was from Somerset, Kentucky and she was my third grade teacher. She was awesome because she introduced us to some exciting literature. There is nothing that I enjoyed anymore than a action packed book. I like a lot of adventure and drama, and Miss Patrick was always taking us on Journey’s through Literature.
The book of Acts is a great read! The book of Acts is absolutely a spellbinder.
• It is the story of the early Church
• And how the early church started and developed.
Inside this book we find, Adventure and Drama.
• This book contains all that is needed to be a box office hit.
But the main thing, this book contains is Purpose.
• Purpose is something that so many people seem to be missing.
• Thus making the Purpose Driven Life such a big seller in Book Stores.
But not only do individuals struggle with Purpose….Often we find churches struggling with their identity and what they are to accomplish…What are we called to do?
• That kind of struggle is soooo Frustrating.
Most of our churches started off so strong…
• But sadly we can look around and see so many churches that are a shell of their former self.
• That breaks my heart because I believe God has a strong desire to use these Churches for the advancement of His Kingdom.
But what has gone wrong? In many cases…They have taken the eye off the ball!
• They have become distracted with life
• They have become distracted by their own comforts and desires.
• And pretty soon they are more concerned about being comfortable than they are faithful.
One thing we learn from the church in the book of Acts….
• Is that if you are going to be faithful….
• You will be uncomfortable as well.
So over the next several months we are going to get a little uncomfortable
• But in a good way.
• Because we are going to look at how God has worked in the past.
• Hopefully, build a desire and a craving to see Him work in similar ways today in the life of our church.
• To be the kind of church that God intended the New Testament Church to be.
So, let’s get crackin:
I love how Luke gets started. He is writing to Theophilus. Who is that?
• I have read many ideas on the matter. Some say he was an individual.
• Perhaps even Paul’s legal counsel in Rome. And they suggest that the books of Luke and Acts are written as a legal brief in preparation for Paul’s case.
But perhaps the secret to unlocking the Mystery of Theophilus is not with the question Who is that? Perhaps the real question is “What does it mean?”
• Theophilus literally means “Lover of God”
• You see, many feel this was not a specific individual but rather it was a symbolic reference to a specific group of God fearers.
So as he writes to this group…He explains what his purpose is for writing.
• So Luke begins with a reference back to the book of Luke.
• A former treatise that he wrote for what purpose…..to share what all Jesus began to do and to teach.
• In Luke 1:4…He said his purpose was to share the things of Christ so that “you may know the certainty of the things that have been taught.
You see, he wants these God fearers to have the information they need to know about Christ…
• So they can be the church
• Not play church but be the church…To be an authentic representation of Christ here on earth.
So that leaves us with this question for Today…What does Luke tell them they need in order to be the Church?
I. There Has To Be Conviction v. 3
Working for Radio Shack in Ft. Worth Texas was a blast. I was attending Seminary full-time but had the opportunity to work with the Tandy Coorperation. Our store manager was very driven… and he would make us each week watch training tapes about how to be better sales people. The one theme that kept coming back throughout the training was that as salespeople we had to be convincing about our products, and in order for that to happen we had to be convinced that our product was what people needed.
Those lessons have stuck with me all throughout life.
• Because regardless of what life brings.
• I know that stability and peace in life can only be found in each of us owning a Radio Shack voltage meter.
• It will change your life.
That may be a stupid illustration but yet there is some truth here.
• Notice verse 3 “After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.”
Now that little verse is very important. Why?
Because Jesus had just given these disciples what seemed to be an impossible task.
• He had just commanded them to Go Into A World that had just rejected Him!
• And convince them concerning the Truth of the Gospel!!!
How in the world would these individuals go into this Hostile World
• And convince these individuals that the One they just crucified was the Son of God.
• And that they needed to trust in His Power, and Commit to follow-Him.
What they needed was to be convinced of the truth of the Gospel message.
• And Jesus for 40 days gave them all the proof they needed to confront their Hostile world with the Message of God’s love for Mankind.
Look what convincing proofs, Jesus gave them during those 40 days.
1. Jesus revealed himself to The woman at the tomb and they worshipped Him.
2. He revealed himself to the Disciples, Mary Magdalene
3. He revealed Himself to the Emmaus road disciples.
4. The bible records that literally over 500 people laid eyes on the resurrected Christ and could identify Him.
For those 40 days, Jesus overcame Hesitation and Disbelief by many “Infallible or Convincing Proofs.. The Result
• His followers were absolutely convinced about who Jesus was and what they were to do.
You know, The task hasn’t changed!
• We are still trying to convince a Christ rejecting world.
• Of God’s love and the truth of the Gospel.
Look at the events of this past week. The California Courts ruling that the phrase “one nation under God” is a violation of the establishment clause of the first amendment.
At times our world does seem to ridicule believers and our faith.
• But it is during those times that we need not retreat and hide.
• But rather we must trust in our experiences with Christ and from those experiences
• Become more convinced than ever that Christ is the answer for mankind.
The problem is not that we don’t have a message to share.
• The problem is not that the world doesn’t want to hear.
The problem is that believers are all to often not convinced enough…
• That all men and women, boys and girls need the gospel.
And the reason we are not convinced is because we ourselves have so few encounters with Christ!
• The more that we encounter Christ daily, the more we will be convinced that all people need Him.
• And the more convinced we are that people need Him, the more Convicted we will be to share the message of the Gospel!
II. There Has To Be Provision 4-8
Waiting is the Hardest thing to do….
Do you remember waiting for Christmas morning? And how hard it was to get through the night so that you could experience the pure excitement the next morning?
Think about this…The disciples have just been given orders to go tell what they had experienced. They saw the resurrected Christ!
• And they were given these orders by the only person who was able to be the only unbeatable foe-Death.
• How do you think they felt?
• Fearless, daring perhaps, eager to get out there and see what other miracles would happen.
• Perhaps they felt special
Regardless of their initial feelings, you and I both know that feelings don’t always last long.
My oldest daughter, Brittany when she was young had the cutest phrases and expressions. She would never tell us that she wanted a hamburger or chicken. She would always “Feel for” something. I “feel for” McDonalds or “I feel for” Arby’s. One thing was for sure “her feel for’s” were subject to change and change quickly.
That is a cute illustration, but you know sometimes “feel for’s” effect very serious matters. In the News this week we have heard about Kenny Chesney and Renee Zelwigger, married for just a few months but now their feel fors have changed.
You see, if you are going to accomplish something great for God, you need more than positive feelings.
• Because positive feelings are subject to change, and often on a whim.
What you need is for God to provide for you what it takes to finish the task.
• And God has been so gracious with His provisions.
• He has given us the Holy Spirit who according to this text provides in several ways.
The Holy Spirit Provides for us;
• First, by Enlightening Us- Giving us understand and insight. He speaks to us with that still small voice providing direction and guidance.
o The disciples would certainly need this for such a huge task.
• Second, by Energizing Us- Can you imagine how tiring it must have been for the Disciples. Not only the travel but also the emotional fatique…being run out of towns. How much rejection can a person take?
o One thing is for sure, we learn from the disciples that we can take a whole lot more whenever we are Energized by the Holy Spirit.
• Finally, by Encouraging Us- Encouragement is something keeps us going even when we feel like we can’t go on any longer.
You won’t believe this but I actually ran the Mini-Marathon in Cincinnati about 10 years ago. We had a really skinny guy at our church who worked at General Electric, who came to me one day in my office and said “I hear you used to be a runner.” For the record, I was a sprinter…there is a difference. He worked with me for about two months and during those two months I grew in my endurance. I went from being able to run about 100 yards without stopping to being able to run about two miles without stopping. But two miles is a far cry from the 9 miles I would be expected to run in the Marathon. I ran the Marathon and finished it in 97 minutes a little over an hour and a half. But what was so neat about the experience, were the encouragers along the way who at different intervals would encourage you to press on. That made huge difference.
That is what the Holy Spirit does for us. HE encourages us along the way to press on!
• Even when things get difficult…Press ON!
• Even when you feel rejected….Press On!
• Even whey you feel overwhelmed….Press On!
• Even when you fell you have nothing to offer…..Press On!
For us to be the Church of the New Testament….
• We will need Conviction
• We will need His Provisions.
• But the good news is that
III. Our Hearts Will Be Full of Anticipation. 10-11
Some of the saddest people I know are those who live life without any Anticipation.
• Who live with no expectation of something great to happen in their lives.
• Life is simply a routine, and there is no Anticipation of something great to come.
You know, I don’t want to live that way.
• And God has made it that his Children don’t have to live that way.
• Look at our text!
These disciples are gazing up toward the Heavans.
• When these glorious words rang out “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
I believe when they heard these words it was a strong reminder.
• That the First Coming was no over.
• But now “The Second Coming” was not the goal.
A new chapter in their lives had begun
• Filled with Excitement and Challenges.
• But you know…That is Okay
It is Okay because
• The are Convinced That all men need Jesus
• They are going to rely on His provisions to meet the challenges of this mission head on.
• And God has inspired them with the Anticipation of what is to come!
• Now there was just one thing left to do.
IV. There Had To Be Participation 8
Jesus was so awesome!
• He took the time to lay out a simple yet profound strategy.
• That truthfully, anyone who is a believer can participate in.
He said “be my witnesses” in other words tell the story.
• Tell what you know about me.
• Tell what you have encountered in me.
• Just be my witness.
He didn’t ask them to be the Lawyers and argue the case.
He didn’t ask them to be the Judge.
They were simply called to be witnesses.
• Tell what you have seen and heard.
What I like about this plan is that it was not complicated.
• Jesus say’s basically, “Just tell what you know about me.” And I will do the rest!
• To those in your community (Jerusalem) to those in your country (Judea) to those on your continent (Samaria) to the uttermost parts of the earth.
This is surely a plan we can all share in!
Let’s Get After It!!!!
